K: "Yes. Dr. Luther King had a dream. He had a dream we would all be friends."

I couldn't have been more proud of that little boy. It amazes me what he learns and remember but it also reminds me of how moldable and plyable their young minds are. I hope he retains this virtue of acceptance towards everyone.

I had asked you to pray for Cohen's sweet doctor, Dr. William Bastian, Saturday as I had found out he suffered a massive stroke on January 10. I am so devastated to say that he passed away yesterday. I am just heartbroken over this. He was such a great advocate for our community in his ﻿fight against childhood obesity and his care for his patients. My mom helped recruit him to Jackson a few years back never knowing that her granddaughter's care would be led by him. When we first found out about Cohen's diagnosis we weren't given many options of local doctors who specialized in childhood hypothyroidism. My mom just raved about him and after our first visit, we understood why. He was upfront but caring, thorough and aggressive. We waited hours to see him at times but after your visit with him we understood why. He spent whatever amount of time it took to answer any questions and offer any new advice. Cohen loved him and she always made him measure her and threw a fit if the nurses attempted to :) We will be forever grateful for his care with Cohen and give him so much credit for the strives she has made due to his early diagnosis. He will be truly missed by many of his patients and collegues.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

How can I dwindle down my list of resolutions?? I have soooo many things that I would like to work on this year

1. We, as a family, would like to find a church that we truly like and can be a part of. This has been a struggle for us because of me being Catholic. I do not mind attending a church of a different denomination but when it comes to joining, I don't want to have to be baptized again. We also want to feel like we are part of a church family and meet new people. I am worried how the kids are going to do as we go to various churches. If you have a church you love that is reasonably close to us, let me know, we would love to visit!

2. Organize everything! You think I am kidding, but I am not! I have so many things stacked up in my room, car, kitchen, office, you name it I have a stack for it. It is getting out of control!! But most importantly, I have to get Cohen's medical info organized. We have spent lots of money on dr visits and prescriptions and I can't keep up with what we have paid, deductibles, and tax info! This is a priority so that hopefully soon we can finish refiling for Cohen's assistance program (which we were denied initially!!)

3. Couponing- I even went to a class on this back in October. I learned so much, even bought the accordian file to organize them in. Then I went even further and got Sunday papers for 4 weeks in a row and stored them in my file. They are still there..never even pulled them out to look at them!! I am determined this time. I follow http://www.southernsavers.com/ to get my coupon match ups (you never have to cut them, just file them and pull them out when she matches them with a sale item).

4. Cooking-- We don't eat out a lot but I have began slacking in the cooking department. we were surviving off sandwiched and lean cuisines, ugh. It was mainly because I was going to the grocery store everyday because I never had everything I needed (reference back to New Year Res2010-- always have a list-- um, yeah, that didnt happen!). My mom got me a few 5 ingredient cookbooks that were also cooking light (even when I do cook, I make sure it is relatively healthy) for Christmas. So far, it has gone well. Now if I can just combine last years resolution to make a list and this year resolution to coupon, I will be hopefully be cooking cheaper too!

5. I know everyone says exercise, but not really exercising as my resolution but just being a more active family when we are together. It is so easy to put the kids in front of the TV to get a few minutes of quiet time or take them shopping to just get out of the house. But I am talking more trips to the park, museums, playing on the swingsets, riding bikes, etc. The kids always love it when we do it, momma and papa just gotta do it!!

6. Education- I love learning anything and everything (I mean really, who goes to a class on couponing!!) We have to get CEUs to keep our liscense and everytime i get a brochure my first instinct is "I am going to this one!" If it wasn't the cost and scheduling around work or missing family time on the weekend, I would go to everyone of them, even those that aren't for OT's. So I am going to definitely look into pursuing/furthering my education online or limited classes to make myself more knowledgeable and up to date to make me a better clinician.

7. Advocate- This kind of goes along with education but more specifically-- Hearing Impaired and Language Disorders. Before Cohen's diagnosis, I knew how to change batteries in my patient's big ole dinosaur aids and when they started whistling I would hit a few buttons and would pray the racket would stop. Now I can change batteries, know how to dry one out when you accidently leave them on in the bathtub, clean out more ear wax than I thought humanly possible, anyway you get the idea. But most importantly, these children deserve the best technology has to offer and the best education. We are fortunate that Magnolia is relatively close to us and that we are in a position that we can afford it. This is not the case for everybody. I know people will get tired of me asking or forwarding emails requesting donations, sponsorships, or participation with events, but I feel very strongly about this. I want only the best for Cohen and it breaks my heart that children just like her can't get the same care.

8. Be more acknowledging and express my gratitude. I have never been very good at giving compliments, it is probably because I am not real good at receiving them. I want to apply this in all aspects, work, friendships, marriage, and family. I love, love, love to write a Thank you note but sometimes things that are small and somewhat expected, I let get by with no acknowledgement. I want people to know how thankful I really am.

See, I told you I would have a hard time narrowing it down and these aren't all of them. A lot of them are more personal changes and smaller things but things I want to work on. I know I need a lot of motivation to keep up with these but i am determined!!

Most of yall know the multitude of doctors that Cohen has seen over the last 2 years. We have adored each and every one and are so thankful for their care. Cohen's Pediatric Endocrinologist had a massive stroke last week and is at UMC right now. I am not sure of his prognosis at this time. Besides her pediatrician, the endocrinologidt is the "lead dr" in her care being that majority of her diagnosis are endocrine related. Needless to say we are DEVASTATED! He is from Peurto Rico and moved here a few years ago and has had a huge impact in our community with his outreach to childhood obesity. As far as I know, he had no family here and loved his patients so much that he continued to stay here. Please pray for him and his recovery during this time.
With that being said, we have no idea when/if he might return to his practice. There a very, very few board certified pediatric endocrinologist around this area. There is 1 at UMC and the possibility of another one that we know of. I hate to start over with someone new but we have no choice at this time. We are also cosidering a dr at UAB. If you have any feedback on the drs at UMC, please let me know. It would be great if we could have her care centralized there but we are very apprehensive. Also, we have no idea how long it will take us to get in to a new dr. Initially, it was 3 months for us to get in and now that his whole practice will be trying to get in... we have no idea what to do. We are at a loss at the moment, poor Dr Flowers...now I will be bugging him for everything until we get this figured out!!

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas at the Smith household this year! It was a very different year for us, since it was the first year without my Mamaw :( Her house was always the gathering spot every Sunday and for every holiday. So the tradition carried on at our house this year. We survived, but boy were we worn out!! I am not sure how she made sure every gift was bought, every meal was shopped for, planned, and cooked at the right time, and then enjoyed every moment that she had company. More than a few times did I want to go in my bedroom and shut the door so I could think for a second!!

Christmas Eve my mom brought hats for everyone to wear and we fed the reindeer and attempted the Christmas Story. Cohen loves hearing stories and was very content on listening but, um, well Kinson had Baby Jesus ramping off of the barn's roof top and had all the wise men playing with trains. Maybe next year he will get it!

Papa Elf!

Princess Claus!

This is typical right now. Bear is trying to get Cohen to put out her Reindeer food and she sat down and said "No!" Her favorite word at the moment..........

Cohen got a dollhouse from Santa. She loves the one in her therapy room and she knows if she participates well she gets to play with it at the end of each session. So we got her, her very own to play at her herat's content. She loves it!!

Kinson got Thomas the train stuff. That's all he asked for from Santa. If he opened a present and it wasn't a train, he would quickly tell you he didn't want it and he told Santa he wanted Thomas stuff!! We have to work on appreciation and gratitude.......

Please dont look at the vast number of presents, these were for our whole family, not just the kids!

Both kids in a picture together. Can you believe it!!

﻿This was after the Christmas day festivities, they layed down together with new blankets and pillow pet to watch "Polar Express." We had to rest up to do it again the next day!!

Followers

About Me

I have been terrible at printing and putting pics into scrapbooks and filling in Kinson's and Cohen's baby books, so I figured I would give this a try to capture those funny little moments and share them with family and friends!